LOG ENTRY: SOL 34 (Dec. 10, 2035) Well that took a really long time. I’ve been at it all night with the Hydrazine. But I got the job done.  I could have finished faster, but I figured caution’s best when setting fire to rocket fuel in an enclosed space.  Boy is this place a tropical jungle now, I’ll tell ya.  It’s almost 30C in here, and humid as all hell. I just dumped a ton of heat and 50L of…

LOG ENTRY: SOL 33 (Dec. 9, 2035) This may be my last entry.  I’ve known since Sol 6 there was a good chance I’d die here. But I figured it would be when I ran out of food. I didn’t think it would be this early.  I’m about the fire up the Hydrazine.  Our mission was designed knowing that anything might need maintenance, so I have plenty of tools. Even in a space-suit, I was able to pry the access…

Chapter 4  LOG ENTRY: SOL 32 (Dec. 8, 2035) So I ran in to a bunch of problems with my water plan.  My idea is to make 600L of water (limited by the hydrogen I can get from the Hydrazine). That means I’ll need 300L of liquid O2. I can create the O2 easily enough. It takes 20 hours for the MAV fuel plant to fill its 10L tank with CO2. The Oxygenator can turn it in to O2, then…

LOG ENTRY: SOL 30 (Dec. 6, 2035) I have an idiotically dangerous plan for getting the water I need. And boy do I mean *dangerous*. But I don’t have much choice. I’m out of ideas and I’m due for another dirt-doubling in a few days. When I do the final doubling, I’ll be doubling on to all that new soil I’ve brought in. If I don’t wet it first, it’ll just die.  There isn’t a lot of water here on…

LOG ENTRY: SOL 29 (Dec. 5, 2035) Over the last few days, I got all the dirt in that I’d need. I prepped the tables and bunks for holding the weight of soil, and even put the dirt in place. There’s still no water to make it viable, but I have some ideas. Really bad ideas, but they’re ideas.  Today’s big accomplishment was setting up the pop-tents. The problem with the rovers’ pop-tents is they weren’t designed for frequent use. …

LOG ENTRY: SOL 26 (Dec. 2, 2035) It was a back-breaking yet productive day.  I was sick of thinking, so instead of trying to figure out where I’ll get 250L of water, I did some manual labor. I need to get a whole assload more soil in to the Hab, even if it is dry and useless right now. I got a cubic meter in before getting exhausted.  Then, a minor dust-storm dropped by for an hour and covered the…

Chapter 3 LOG ENTRY: SOL 25 (Dec. 1, 2035) Remember those old math questions you had in Algebra class? Where water is entering a container at a certain rate and leaving at a different rate and you need to figure out when it’ll be empty? Well, that concept is critical to the “Mark Watney doesn’t die” project I’m working on.  I need to create calories. And I need enough to last four years. I figure if I don’t get rescued…

LOG ENTRY: SOL 22 (Nov. 28, 2035) Wow. Things really came along.  I got all the sand in and ready to go. 2/3 of the base is now dirt. And today I executed my first dirt-doubling. It’s been a week, and the former Martian soil was rich and lovely. Two more doublings and I will have covered the whole field.  All that work was great for my morale. It gave me something to do. But after things settled down a…

LOG ENTRY: SOL 16 (Nov. 22, 2035) One complication I hadn’t thought of: Water.  Turns out being on the surface of Mars for a few million years eliminates all the water in the soil. My master’s degree in botany makes me pretty sure plants need wet dirt to grow in. Not to mention the bacteria that has to live in it first.  Fortunately, I have water. But not as much as I want. To be viable, soil needs 40 liters…

LOG ENTRY: SOL 15 (Nov. 21, 2035) Ugh! This is backbreaking work!  I spent 12 hours today on EVAs to bring dirt in to the Hab. I only managed to cover a small corner of the base, maybe 5 square meters. At this rate it’ll take me weeks to get all the soil in. But hey, time is one thing I’ve got.  The first few EVAs were pretty inefficient; me filling small containers and bringing them in through the airlock.…